Thursday, June 10, 2010

Abundant Evidence ME/CFS is Neurological - Harvard's Dr. Komaroff

On April 24, the Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association hosted a presentation on “The Latest Research on CFS” by Dr. Anthony L Komaroff, MD. Dr. Komaroff , a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Editor in Chief of Harvard Health Publications, has treated hundreds of ME/CFS patients over the past 25 years.

Excellent Videos Available Free Online (Full Text Scripts Promised Soon)Now, with Dr. Komaroff’s permission, the Mass. CFIDS Assoc. has made Dr. Komaroff’s lecture and extensive audience Q&A available on their website (www.masscfids.org/news-a-events. The videos take time to download, but the visual and sound quality are first-rate.

Owing to Dr. Komaroff’s unimpeachable reputation and status in the medical community, patients and advocates may wish to share links to these highly organized and informative videos with their own healthcare providers.

Easy to FollowYou can view each session from beginning to end - or click on any of the numbered topics listed down the left side of the screen, to view only those parts. (For a preview of the topics & questions covered, see our listings, below. If you’re like us, you may start with ‘dessert’ – the Q&A.)

"I would certainly say, as I have said today, that there is now abundant evidence of measurable abnormalities in the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system in people with this illness. So that makes it neurological. That's why I think it makes sense, as Dr. Gurwitz said, to call it Myalgic Ecephalomyelitis or Encephalopathy, because I think those two words adequately classify or describe an underlying biology that tests have shown to be the case."

In answer to question # 26 - “With respect to the study on the presence of metabolites after exercise, how do patients with depression compare to CFS patients?” Dr. Komaroff stated:

“As a doctor who has taken care of patients with major depression for many years I can’t recall a single instance of someone with major depression saying, ‘The strangest thing has been happening to me, doctor, whenever I do anything, any physical exertion, the next day I feel completely beat up.’ I have never heard that from any patient with any illness other than chronic fatigue syndrome.”